Recently I was having a conversation with someone and mentioned that I wasn’t overly fond of a specific celebrity. The person I was talking to responded by saying, “Well, they’re making much more money than you” like it was the ultimate factor in having a life worth living.
First, yes they are. Second, who really gives a damn?
It’s sad that the majority of our society bases their view of success on wealth alone. Not to say that wealth is bad, hell, I wouldn’t mind sitting on a big bank account, but isn’t there more to life? You can’t take it with you when you die, right?
It irks me when people overstate the importance of this stuff we call money. With more money often comes more things, increased need for space/real estate, more recurring expenses, insurances of all kinds and other balance siphoners.
Before you know it you don’t own your money and things, they own you. My man Biggie said it best, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”
The antithesis to this way of thinking is those who are ‘experience rich.’ The people who make less money, but have the freedom to actually do whatever they feel like doing. Where the ability to pack up one bag and go anywhere is more valuable than adding one more zero to an account. Where climbing to Machu Picchu blows putting a Mercedes in the garage out of the water.
I know not everyone will agree with my seemingly coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs view of money but I feel it’s worth sharing.
What do you think?
Though I still do sometimes, I have become great at not dragging through days like a zombie. I used to sit down to do some writing or reading and just feel dead. This lack of energy and ambition would result in a Twitter session (tweeting is easy) and meaningless Facebook surfing and stalking (wait, what?). Followed by that would be 10-15 minutes of zone-out time.
I want to talk about a few cool ways that I usually manage to keep myself at least coherent during even the longest of days.
Walk. Going for a walk does something really good for me. It makes me more aware. Maybe it’s the cars screaming by that could kill me instantly? Maybe it’s the occasional squirrel running by or the mystery roadkill creature I try to ignore but just can’t seem to not look at? Anyway, do this.
Really hot and really cold shower. I’ll take a shower with really hot water and then randomly change it to freezing cold. Not sure about the medical mumbo-jumbo behind this, and quite frankly I’m too lazy to look it up, but it works for me.
Tapping and a nap. I found this great website through the wonderful Jen Smith on Twitter and tried a little Tapping. It’s an Emotional Freedom Technique that is actually very neat. I thought it was kind of new-agey and weird at first but it works. It really does. SO, I do a quick Tapping session and then a 10-15 minute worry free nap ensues.
What kind of things do you do to get a quick burst of energy (caffeine and other drugs not included)?
Recently I had been trying to get together with a friend from college. She texted me one night about how sad she was that her and her boyfriend broke up. I did the usual consoling stuff and said that we should get together for lunch to catch up. She said “yes” with like 14 exclamation points.
So, I try to get in touch with her on the day that we had scheduled and… nothing. I got totally blown off. It’s not a good feeling at all.
But it’s a great lesson.
I’ve been contemplating what being a good friend is really all about. A couple points have really stood out.
First, when you say something then you damn well better do it. There’s no better way to get a bad reputation as a friend than to continually blow people off or come up with lame excuses. If you can manage to actually do what you say you will (amazing concept, I know!), you will be seen as reliable. And that’s what being a friend is all about.
Some folks are scared to be viewed as reliable. They will be called upon at all times to do things, heaven forbid! Hold on though, the solution to this is my second point…
As good as you are at being reliable, also be just as good at saying NO. This word scares people. It’s made saying it a real lost art. People would rather lie (I’m as guilty as anyone) and then struggle for an excuse than just say no to someone.
Saying no is really not as scary as it seems though. Try it. You will not only be done with those stressful “What can I tell them to get out of this?” situations, but when you do say yes to someone/something they will know you are sincere.
I’d much rather be told no by someone than be lied to. Wouldn’t you?
I get an amazing amount of work done on my pink futon. It’s this place where I can go and to in super productive mode. Maybe it’s the pink-ness, maybe it’s the futon-ness? Who knows?
It’s like a breath of fresh air. A bucket of cold water poured over my head. An hour on my futon (did I mention it is pink?) and I get more done than I would in 3 hours in another location. It’s a vortex of pounding keys and full Google Docs pages.
If you don’t have a place as glorious as my pink futon, then keep moving around until you find one. Sit somewhere in your house/apartment that you’ve never really paid attention to before. Maybe your place will be outside of your home base. Go to a park or coffee shop.
Do you have a place like this? If so, where is it?
That’s Rondo on the futon. Notice how the color blends oh so well with the yellowish wall paper.
I just finished reading a book called Work The System by Sam Carpenter a couple of days ago. It’s part of the Personal MBA program that I am following.
From this point on, when I finish a PMBA book I’m going to write a short mini review of it here.
So, this book kicked some serious ass. I found myself nodding my head and thinking, “Man, that is so smart!” throughout the whole thing.
Probably the biggest thing I got out of the book is the information that Sam gives about fighting what he calls “fire-killing.” It essentially means that when a problem comes up, don’t just quickly fix it and move on to the next one. Document what you did to fix it, and then next time it happens dealing with it will be extremely easy. As time goes on the systems get more and more smooth, eventually liberating you from almost all problems/worries.
Sam encourages an “outside and slightly elevated” view of each task you do during a day. He wants you to analyze each one and break down it’s component systems to find flaws that can be improved. This is all for the reason of making you as efficient as possible.
It’s such a simple concept, and that’s really the beauty of it. Anything can be successfully managed this way. The logic can be applied to a business, your life or a relationship. Amazing.
Obviously there is much more to this book, that is just what I found particularly eye opening.
So, if you want to start working your systems and getting your life and business into better shape then pick up this book. It’s a great read.
Sam’s website – http://www.workthesystem.com
Buy it on Amazon (not aff link)
Everyone these days is so worried about being original. It’s really become an uphill battle because naturally as time moves on it becomes harder to have something that is truly unique.
I’ve been struck with the fear of being unoriginal many times. It happened most recently when I started writing the eBook for the muse I am currently building. I thought, “But what if my product isn’t original enough?” and other junk like that.
This originality paralysis has stopped me from launching businesses before. I wrote a 70 page fitness and weight loss eBook a few months back and then decided to not proceed further with it (this effort was not wasted though as it will be a bonus for my new product). I sometimes wonder about where I would be right now if I HAD followed through and conquered this fear of not being original.
The conclusion I came to recently is that nothing is really original these days (a point that is coincidentally not original as I’ve read many articles about it, it just never really set in). Pretty much everything has been done before.
Even though what you are doing right now may not be a brand spankin’ new concept, there are still things you can bring to the table.
There’s only one you. People will dig what you are doing because they like YOU. You have your own little personal brand going on. Only you have experienced the things that you have in the exact order that they occurred.
Do not underestimate the value that you can add to something, whether it be an industry or whatever else you have going on.